An Interesting Encounter with Lutris – 18/8/16

This was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen from a whale. This is a male known as Lutris. Initially he was taking exceptionally long dives so we moved on to find other whales. A while later, he surfaced next to the boat, exhaled, and then opened his mouth twice. It didn’t appear to be a feeding sequence although it is possible he still had his mouth full from when he was beneath the surface. I’d just never seen a whale surface for air and then open its mouth as he did here. Crazy whale!

An interesting look at Lutris. If you look closely, you can see that his eye is open just above the water surface. We’re not sure what this move was all about. It certainly did not appear to be a feeding sequence.

It’s really sad to me that the ocean is such a dangerous place for our whales to live in. This is their home, but yet they face so many obstacles just trying to survive. The majority of those obstacles are man made which is really upsetting. Earlier this week we observed many private recreational boaters literally flying through the area where whales were clearly hanging around. Thankfully, none of the whales got hit (that I know of), but the danger is real for sure. Yesterday we met this whale known as Piano. This whale, at just 6 years of age, has had a very rough life. Not only did this whale suffer through an entanglement, but as you can see it clearly suffered serious injuries from a boat strike as well. These things should not happen to them in their home, but they do on a regular basis. It’s really sad and scary, we have to do better!